How can neighborhoods develop without displacing black-owned businesses: Voices from The Listening Post

Editor’s Note: ViaNolaVie is working with the founder and producers of the The Listening Post. TLP is a community media project that aims to meet residents deep in their own neighborhoods, on porches, at libraries, in barbershops, and start conversations about local news in New Orleans and both get and share important information about life in the city. 

Each week on their WWNO radio segment, TLP explores issues ranging from healthcare and WhoDat, to tattoos and transportation. Listeners are able to contribute via TLP recording devices at local libraries or via a text messaging service, which then became source material for these programs. This piece aired on May 30, 2017.

Journey Allen’s studio and gallery, located on the corner of N. Broad & Columbus Street. (Photo provided by: The Listening Post)

Earlier this month, Ooh Poo Pah Doo Bar on Orleans Avenue in the Treme was shut down.

Ooh Poo Pah Doo bar was black owned. This made us think about which black owned businesses people in New Orleans frequent on a regular basis. We also got to thinking about how Treme and other neighborhoods can develop without displacing black residents and black-owned businesses. Interviews about the subject and our survey results are featured in our monthly radio segment.